Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World!-Chapter 438: Anna & Claudia Finishing Their Tournament

"Good game..." A young Indian player let out a long sigh as he offered a handshake.

"Yes, you too." Claudia nodded, accepting it gracefully.

Right after that, both players rose from their chairs, and the girl couldn’t help but yawn. She stretched her body a little bit more, wanting to loosen every single muscle and joint on her body after sitting still for more than two hours.

This was the final round of the tournament, so neither Claudia nor her opponent really tried that hard. The girl still wanted to win, of course. She listened to her elders when they said it was better to end a tournament with a positive result so that she didn’t bring negativity back home. However, she wouldn’t risk a drawish situation foolishly, and once her opponent offered a draw, Claudia didn’t have any reason to reject it.

She herself was quite satisfied with her result. In total, the girl got 5 points out of 9 rounds, sitting comfortably in the top 25 of the standings. If it were Sheva’s standard, this result was not that great. However, Claudia’s rating was far below that of the boy. Hell, her initial ranking was at around 82, so the jump to 25 was something worth celebrating.

"Big Sis!" Claudia’s eyes shone brightly when she saw her sister strolling around the venue. She rushed instantly, having her ponytail hair swaying behind. "Have you done your game as well?" She asked, her eyes went wide with curiosity.

"Yeah, and it is just a draw." Anna couldn’t help but sigh, patting her sister’s head fondly. "It is a pity that my performance in this tournament is far worse than yours..." She sighed in regret.

"What?! No!" Claudia denied her words instantly. However, when her sister just crooked one of her eyebrows, the little girl felt heat rise on her face, knowing full well that Anna was right. "Well... Maybe not far worse. I am just a little—a very little—bit better than you in this tournament." She finally said it weakly.

The big sister just let out a little snort as she said, "Thank you for your polite words, Ia, but I can assure you that I am not that fragile."

In return, Claudia just stood still, smiling awkwardly. Indeed, while Claudia had every reason to be happy with her result, Anna was the opposite. They only had a half-point gap, with the little sister being slightly above with 5 points, yet their initial target was different. More than that, the draw that Anna suffered just now also made her lose more rating. After all, her opponent’s rating was slightly below hers. Overall, Anna lost about 8 ELO rating points, resulting in her rating being 2385.

’Tch! That must be because of those Indian players!’ Claudia couldn’t help but curse. Unfortunately, Anna somehow overheard it even though the little girl had already tried her best to lower her voice.

"Whoa, no need to be racist, girl!" Anna chuckled while putting her hands up. "It is not their fault that they are getting paired against me. If anything, this should be my clue to improve myself in that kind of game, because all the draws I suffered in this tournament are coming from the same kind of style."

As she pondered, though, Anna suddenly asked, "Speaking of which, there are really a lot of Indian players in this tournament, huh?"

Claudia just grunted lowly while following her big sister from behind. Indeed, so many Indian players joined this tournament. In total, Anna had already fought against 5 Indian players while Claudia met 4, and each one of them was different. That still didn’t count Medina, Laysa, and Duta, and most importantly, in the highest level, Sheva also fought against the Indian prodigies.

It just showed how dominant the Indian players were in this tournament, at least quantity-wise.

They kept strolling around the venue, taking their sweet time to enjoy the atmosphere of the last day. Not a lot of spectators came, especially since the winner had already been determined yesterday. However, some local chess enthusiasts could still be seen hanging around, asking for photos with the top players and even a sign or two for their chessboard.

Well, both Marisa Sisters couldn’t care less about them. Neither sister was the target of the fans, so they could just walk around freely without getting bothered for even a single second.This way, they could come and see any game they liked and just move on after glancing at it for one or two seconds.

’Heh, it seems Sister Medina and Laysa are going to win their game.’ Claudia scoffed, definitely unhappy with the result. ’Sister Medina is okay, but why does Laysa also have a good result? She will be a pain in the ass for Big Sis later!’

Anna herself didn’t have any problem with Laysa. She was also happy for the girl. They might be rivals, but at the end of the day, they both represented the same country. The higher they both managed to climb, the louder the country’s name would resound. As for playful teasing and banter... Well, that was a part of their rivalry. Don’t think that Anna was a paper tiger just because she was always calm, but when she had the upper hand against Laysa, the girl really knew how to mock her friend.

After their short adventure, they finally arrived at the main reason why they were still here, the game on board 1 between Sheva and Amin Tabatabaei. There were some spectators around, as expected from the top board. It took them a while to get a better spot, and the moment Claudia observed the board, she couldn’t help but snort.

’Of course, he will still go for a win even in the last game. Why would I expect something else?’ She muttered under her breath.

Yeah, while the others were confused why Sheva was still trying hard, Claudia and Anna didn’t really find this to be surprising. They both knew him well at this point, and they also knew his principles.

’Still, the position looks very dead to me. At least, if I were him, I would offer a draw already.’ Claudia pondered, putting her hand on her chin. ’Now, I really want to see how he would maneuver his way to get an upper hand in this situation...’

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Author’s note: Hey, everyone! I just write a new novel as an entry to the WSA 2026 competition, with the title of ’I Am the God of Football in the Fantasy World’. Please, help me support this new novel by adding it to the library and leave your comment in it. Thank you!